


The Bank Job

by brothergrimace1



Category: Daria - Fandom, Legion of Super-Heroes (Comics)
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-11 03:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11705985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brothergrimace1/pseuds/brothergrimace1
Summary: A 'Mini'-fic from the 'Legion of Lawndale Heroes' series (a 'Daria'/'Legion of Super-Heroes' crossover created by 'Roentgen'). Several of the Legionnaires investigate an unusual bank robbery - and find that it may be more unusual (and dangerous) than they ever imagined.





	The Bank Job

 

 

 

 

_ The Bank Job  _

_A Legion of Lawndale Heroes   ‘Mini’, by Brother Grimace _

_**Legion of Lawndale Heroes  created by James Bowman **_

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_Upon entrance into the Legion, each new member learned that their education wasn’t going to be made a secondary concern to their Legion duties and metahuman training. Besides their rigorous physical conditioning and self-defense training, Legionnaires were required to complete their high school equivalencies._

_Due to the slight prejudice in which GED certificates were held in relation to actual diplomas, provisions were made so that any Legionnaire with two or more years of study at an actual high school or academy could (upon completion of their studies, confirmation of the necessary credits and at least one course physically taken at the school per semester), receive a diploma from that institution and attend commencement ceremonies. (This policy was put in place to allow Legionnaires who desired such to have that legitimacy - and as it turned out, the memories of such events.) It wasn’t a surprise that, despite the bother it proved to be for some, more than a few Legionnaires chose to actually take this option, What was surprising, however, turned out to be some of the Legionnaires who did._

_The Legionnaires also were given training in various other areas of study, with an eye on post-Legion careers, or on advancing possible educational options. There were a number of Legionnaires who arrived with such advanced training - and as it turned out, there were many instances where this proved useful._

_-from Inside The Tower  , by K. M Sherrie (Sherrie Klein) _

 

 

 

 

 

Jane looked around the room.“You know, there’s something that I’ve always wondered about…

 

Julia smirked at her fellow Legionnaire’s tone. _“The Federal Government holds to its earlier statement that we can neither confirm or deny the actual existence of the fictionalized individual known as Kris Kringle - also know by the aliases of ‘Santa Claus’ and ‘Father Christmas’.”_

__

“Damn, Bigfoot - you know that by heart. Stuff like that comes up a lot back out there in the cornfield?”

 

The redhead brushed metal shavings off her shoulders; she was actually grateful for the nondescript, gray coveralls that she and the other Legionnaires wore, instead of their standard uniforms. _I hate washing those things out. I hate doing laundry, period…_

 

“Don’t knock the cornfield.”

 

Julia turned to Jane; the bright glare of her flashlight kept Jane from seeing the annoyance in her eyes- but the _First Legionnaire_  simply smiled as she kicked several bindings of one-hundred-dollar bills across the floor, as if she knew it was there.

 

“You’d be surprised at how many things that people think of as ‘make-believe’ are inspired by real-life things, or are actually real - and stop kicking the straps. If you break one, it just means more time wasted counting the cash.”

 

Jane looked up. “This stack of bills?”

 

Julia nodded as she adjusted her gloves (all of the Legionnaires wore them, to avoid contaminating the crime scene). “ _Straps._ It’s called a _currency strap_  - and each of those hundreds is ten thousand each.”

 

“Cool. I’m surprised that this is the first bank robbery we’ve come across by people with powers.”

 

“What surprises _me_  is that they _left so much cash_ behind.” Julia shook her head as she pushed aside several more one-hundred dollar straps on the floor. “The whole point of a robbery is to get the money, right?”

 

“We’ve dealt with a guy possessed by a crystal, baddies from the future, a Russian cyborg, a threesome of asses - with one of them _trying to eat Upchuck_ - several jumps into other realities, a flying half-a-bimbo who wanted to gobble on unborn babies and a guy who comes across like Harry Houdini and David Copperfield swirled up together with crack, energy drinks and half of the damned Sun in there.”

 

The two girls walked down the length of the large room and over to Mack, who looked up at the gaping hole in the floor beneath the Lawndale County Credit Union’s vault area. “Seems like we’re way behind on people with powers robbing banks.”

 

“Powers that can cause damage like _this_ , Jane?” Mack asked. “That hole looks like one of those creatures from the _Alien_  movies got blasted up there!”

 

“It’s probably not,” Julia disagreed. “Molecular acid has a different effect - and there would be a huge hole where we’re now standing. Gotta keep the wheels upstairs turning faster than that, _Football Lad_.”

 

Mack snorted as Julia winked at him before she continued on. “This was probably done by somebody who just got their powers only recently. Some punk who thinks he or she’s made a big score - and who’ll start popping banks in the counties around this area, if we don’t get him.”

 

Mack motioned to the light fixtures, which all seemed to have caught aflame.“Is that what caused the blackout - and _that_?”

 

“Just on this block?” Julia shook her head. “If he’s got a plasma blast that has an electric or magnetic signature to it, that could have fried the circuits - but it wouldn’t have been confined to just a fifty-yard radius. I _think _.__ ”

 

Julia looked at the charred metal that dripped down into the lower level, and made a ring of metal stalagmites that ringed the large hole above; she took her time as she walked a circle around and below the hole, then silently floated upwards through the hole to step out into the vault.

 

Mack smiled at the graceful way Julia moved in the air. “Didn’t know that you could fly without the fan dance, red.”

 

Julia smiled down at Mack as she held up her Legion flight ring. “I _c an_ do a fan dance in midair, Mack. You get at least two years of flight training as school with different devices. I chose flight rings and jet packs.”

 

Jane piped up. “Jet packs? _You_  wanted a jet pack?”

 

“Jet packs are cool.”

 

Julia swung her flashlight in a slow arc as she took another look around the surprisingly spacious vault interior, at the surprising cleanliness of the area, with exception for the damage and strewn cash, and how very few of the wall compartments within were unopened...

 

“This is not good.” Julia’s voice filled with sudden realization. “People - this wasn’t a petty heist.”

 

A second voice from above joined the conversation.“She’s right, guys.”

 

Mack and Jane watched as Fran grew to full size as she appeared next to Julia, who brushed back hair from her eyes as the breeze from Fran’s insect-like wings caused a small shuffle of loose bills across the floor.

 

“This is weird.” Fran hovered above the floor as she spoke. “This was a pro job - made to look like amateurs did it.”

 

Mack and Jane exchanged looks from below. “Huh?”

 

Julia first pointed her light at the hole, and then at the ceiling above.“See how the metal deformed - plus, the shape _and_  angle of the hole? If someone had blasted through _this_  floor with their powers, the power they would have needed to burn through _would have punched right through the ceiling_ and _holed  _the roof.”

 

Mack and Jane floated up through the hole as Julia continued. “This was ‘ _astro-turfed_ ’ - probably with a plasma device of some sort. Some of the off-world teams for different military projects use short-range plasma drills for boring mine-shafts and tunnels off-world.”

 

Fran nodded in agreement. “It looks like a drill, all right.”

 

“Are you allowed to tell us that?” Jane asked.

 

“Please. He worked with _Ringbearers_  for almost a year-’ Julia motioned towards Mack. “-and you’re the _First Legionnaire_. I’d be surprised if my clearance level is higher than either of yours.”

 

Julia motioned to the gash in the floor. “The burn pattern is too precise - I mean, the style of the damage is shaped to appear like a natural plasma blast, but the points of the melted metal are too sharp for formation due to a biological’s release - especially with the time-frame. That’s the effect you get from using a force-chamber to shape and terminate the plasma stream within a very specific distance.”

 

“Hey!” Jane’s voice had a snap to it. “ _Charlie’s Teen Angel_ s! Dumb it down for the popcorn munchers in the area!”

 

“You’ve never been dumb a day in your life.”

 

Julia stepped back to watch the way that Jane carefully examined the floor; she shared a look of satisfaction with Fran, who also watched their fellow Legionnaire look around before she spoke up.

 

“How can you be sure?” Jane asked. “How can you _tell_  what kind of weapon that the bad guys used, anyway?”

 

“Lasers do _heat damage_ ,” Fran explained. “They melt the area they cut through with not much damage to anything else.”

 

Mack turned to Fran, surprised that she answered his question. “ _You_  know about this kind of stuff?”

 

She nodded. “Blasters - you know, _concussion weapons_  - they punch holes through  their target, or hit it hard enough to knock it off its foundation or fastenings. This floor’s melted, not ripped through or knocked in.”

 

“She’s right,” Julia chimed in. “The power you need to go through this vault floor with a blaster isn’t worth it - not for simple robbery - and using them means _you don’t care  if anyone knows you’re breaking in_. If they had used a blaster - they’d come through the front, or made their own back door.”

 

Fran shrank down to half her normal size; she hovered inside the hole, and held her light close to the metal as she made certain not to touch the sides.

 

“What Julia said about the burn patterns? Look at the metal - the carbon residue is __smooth__  all the way around, instead of being speckled with __‘_ Kirby-dots’ _all over.”

 

“The forensic guys stole it from this guy who used that pattern since the Forties,” Julia piped up, in answer to Mack and Jane’s questioning looks. “Kirby. Artist. Did comic books.”

 

Mack smiled. “ _You_  read comic books?”

 

“I own a copy of _Archie_  #1, 1942, with a CGC score of _10.0  - Gem Mint._”

 

Mack turned back to Jane. “I don’t know what’s worse - that she has the money to own something like that, or that she’s the type to own something like that.”

 

“She has a _Trekkie_  for a boyfriend - and don’t complain,” Jane replied. “‘ _Worse _’__  is hearing Daria bitch about Quinn trying to find out if she actually could find a _unicorn_  to buy - but with some of the things she’s thought about buying…”

 

Whatever question Mack would have asked was lost as Julia spoke up. “What were you saying, Lawrence?”

 

“If they had used a __particle beam__  weapon, the surface of the metal would be heavily  pock-marked with a carbon residue - side-effects of the explosive effect the beam generates on contact with solid materials. It sort of blows the metal apart from within.”

 

Jane almost smiled. “It’s like listening to Quinn talk about different types of detonators and explosives.”

 

Julia couldn’t help but smile at Jane’s comment. “Be nice, Jane. I wouldn’t make fun of anyone related by blood to _Helen Morgendorffer _.__  Oh, do my moms have _stories_  about her…”

 

Julia tapped at the edge of her ear; Armalin’s voice came through clearly to all four Legionnaires.

 

_“Report.”_

 

“You’ll want to call Agent Fornell and have him send a Bureau specialist in, sir. This wasn’t a ‘Feral’ trying to get cash to run away from home, or meta-punks looking for a score. The Feds also need to find out _exactly_  what was in the safety deposit boxes, and who owned them. Something important got hooked, sir - by serious players, who _want_  the government to be in on this.”

 

“They’ll only need to figure out _why_ , Colonel,” Fran interjected, as she moved to the other side of the room and shone her light at the far end of the vault. “From everything here - the ‘ _who_ ’ is obvious.”

 

Julia’s head snapped around - and a look of disgust crossed her face at Fran’s single, sad nod as she pointed her light in the direction of Fran’s… and several yards-long, wispy strands, which resembled whitish-blonde hairs as they hung from the corner where ceiling and wall connected, began to dissolve into nothingness as the combined beams of light played across them.

 

“What is _that_?” Mack took a step towards the strands as they burned away with a strange inner glow (almost as if the light itself were destroying them), but both Julia and Fran put their hands out to stop him from moving forward. “Some weird hair, or spider web-”

 

The speed with which Julia drew her PFT pistol from her coveralls (and Jane was _stunned_ to discover that she had it with her) and began to look around the area caused Mack to freeze in his tracks, and Jane to worry...

 

…but the fact that _Fran_  drew a weapon as her delicate features went blank - one Jane didn’t recognize, a telescoping baton that seemed to be made of gold, or a golden alloy - made pure cold move up Jane’s back.

 

“Oh, _great_.” The redhead spat as if a horrible taste had filled her mouth. “ __‘_ It’s a pro job, made to look like amateurs.’ _I hate being _this_  wrong.”

 

Fran nodded once more. “It explains why not much money is missing, though.”

 

Jane looked from Julia to Fran and back. “Anyone want to _share_?”

 

“Later, Jane,” Julia snapped. “Colonel - _tell Agent Fornell that he should send some First Registry guys down here NOW._ This might be a _Crimson Access_.”

 

Armalin’s voice rang through the Legionnaire’s ears. _“Understood. You’re all still out of sight?”_

 

“Yes, we are.” Jane spoke up. “Are the police here yet?”

 

_“They’re in the parking lot, and SWAT is sixty seconds out. I’ll call in the local SU2 unit, and your ride should be arriving any moment.”_

 

Tiffany - holding Brittany’s hand - walked through the wall of the vault before Armalin finished his sentence.

 

“They just got here.” Jane nodded in greeting. “See you in five.”

 

“Let’s go.” Tiffany was all business; she held out a length of thin chain, and each Legionnaire grasped it as they all hovered just over the vault floor. “Brittany.”

 

The Legionnaires rose towards the ceiling; as they began to pass through and faded from view, both Julia and Fran had their eyes wide, as if both decided to keep watch for something something that might appear at any moment, from any direction...

 

 

**END**

 

29 July 2017


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